Epping Local Plan

A busy evening spent - first at a consultation in Nazeing - and then a public meeting in Roydon - organised by Alan Burgess (from Protection of the Roydon Area) and the Parish Council, to discuss the local plan.

Local residents are clearly concerned about the number of houses proposed and the suggested building on green belt land around, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering. There are other worries about infrastructure too - in that the Plan does not set out much detail regarding infrastructure development if the new houses/business areas are to be built.

The crucial fact is that the current Epping Plan is a set of proposals - it is not a fait d'accompli. It is vital that local residents send their views to Epping Council, by the time the Consultation ends on 15 October. There will be then be other rounds of consultation, reflecting responses from the villages.

Please feel free to send through me, as I am also collating responses to send to the Council - and will be sending my own submission.

More details are available HERE.

Sad events at Sheering

I was very sad to be at Sheering Church this evening, watching brave Harlow Fire Officers do their best to put out flames that threatened havoc on this ancient Medieval building.

The Tower of Sheering Church was built in 1160 and its majesty is something special. It holds a clock - a memorial clock, put in at a much later date. As I understand it, the rest of the Church was built in the 14th Century, with the North wing be added in the nineteenth.
I remember going to the Church, with former Conservative Leader Michael Howard, so it was a bit of a shock seeing smoke from the rooftops.

The Fire Officers fortunately saved the Church from further damage and managed to preserve ancient medieval artefacts from ruin. Going inside the Church with a Fire Officer, it was tragic to see that a section had been gutted by the fire.

I felt deeply for the acting Church Vicar, church wardens and local residents, watching and waiting to see how much damage their would be to this special place of worship.

From what I was told, it was luck, that a lady walking her dog by the church, saw the fire and called emergency services. Had she not been there at that time, the whole church could have been destroyed.

As always, we have to give our thanks the emergency services - the Fire Officers - who did all they could to keep the Church from the flames.

A sad time for Sheering villagers nevertheless.

You can see more pictures of the fire at Everything Epping Forest.com
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Victory in Lower Sheering

It has been a long Thursday. After many weeks of campaigning, it was the final day of the By-Election in Lower Sheering.Harlow and Epping Conservative activists were in Lower Sheering from 0700, campaigning for Charlotte Edwards, who was our candidate.

What was astonishing was that Labour did not even put up a Candidate to stand in this election - a symbol of how their grassroots infrastructure is falling apart. The Liberals, also, almost gave up the ghost. Despite putting up a Candidate (who, unlike Charlotte lived miles away from Sheering), did no real campaigning, not even bothering to put a leaflet around the ward.

I was really pleased to see that Charlotte romped home. She will make an excellent candidate. Part of Charlotte's victory was due to former Cllr Heather Harding who worked so hard in Lower Sheering - and did so much to lay the foundations for tonight's success.

The response we got on the doorstep was great - and a good sign for the General Election next year.

P.S. The Lower Sheering results were as follows:

Conservatives 302
Liberals 93

Charlotte's majority was 209


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From swimming the Channel to Sheering Village Hall

Some of you will know that in Sheering, there lives a man by the name of Paul Forsey, who swam the Channel last year in 16 hours 8 minutes for charity. His diary is HERE. I first heard about this amazing feat from Dan Lucia (boyfriend to Paul's daughter), who has recently joined Harlow Conservative Future. Well, the purpose of Paul's swim was to raise money for local youth groups. Not content with just raising money, Paul has set up, with the assistance of his local church, a great youth group in Sheering. This is a youth club with a difference. When I visited the Club last night, young kids of primary school age, who otherwise might be out on the streets, were instead playing footie, games, and having a brilliant time, all under Paul's guidance. Also supervising was Carla (Paul's other daughter), who is a budding photographer, and currently studying Media at Lincoln University. The picture shows Paul, Carla and myself just by the mini-snooker table!

Paul has a great vision for the Club, which is housed at Sheering Village Hall. He hopes to work with the Cricket Club, to build a youth centre on the side of the pitch, just outside.

It was great to see these kids really enjoy themselves and be given Easter Eggs at the end of the evening. I am sure that Paul's determination to provide young people of Sheering with a great venue and loads of activities will make it happen. I certainly will be supporting him every step of the way.

Sheering at Sunset

What can be more beautiful in the Spring than the sunset? I just had to show you this magical picture taken by Vanda last night, when we were outside Sheering Village Hall. We were in Sheering to visit a new youth club set up by Paul Forsey. Details are HERE.